Family Naming Patterns

Review your family history with the goal of identifying your own personal family naming patterns.  Just do an inventory of what you find.  Watch for similarities among different family lines and note particularly where differences are visible.

Consider these questions:

  1. Do they use nicknames?  Which names are repeated?
  2. Do they have more than one given name?
  3. Do they shorten long surnames?
  4. Do they use initials  for given names?
  5. Do certain names appear over and over again?
  6. Do all given names have the same 1st initial?  Or sound alike? Rhyme?
  7. Are persons named for celebs and famous people?
  8. Does each family unit have at least one child named after the grandfather?
  9. Which middle name is used most often?  County them.
  10. Do all the children have the same middle name?
  11. Could the middle name be a surname?
  12. Do they use place names for surnames?
  13. Do families distinguish themselves by variations in spelling?
  14. Are spelling variations obvious within the same family unit?

Stay tuned for some ethnic and national backgrounds based on these questions.  Your favorite genealogist, Arlene Eakle   http://arleneeakle.com

To be continued…

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